Histories of the past and histories of the future: Pandemics and historians of education

in Paedagogica Historica (2022)

The COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of the 2020s not only marked a dramatic moment in world health, but also the start of manifold and entangled global crises that seem to define a watershed moment ... [more ▼]

The COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of the 2020s not only marked a dramatic moment in world health, but also the start of manifold and entangled global crises that seem to define a watershed moment with severe effects on education. Pandemics we know are recurrent events. Faced with COVID-19 some historians have looked to previous pandemics to understand the nature of the disease and its trajectory, and how previous generations have dealt with similar health crises. This special issue intends not to reinforce narratives of the past but rather to question them. The histories that have been written for this special issue Histories of the Past and Histories of the Future: Pandemics and Historians of Education offer insights that refer to past and future research agendas. They look at the mediation and circulation of knowledge during past pandemics, trace unheard voices and emotions of pandemics, analyse national policies and emerging discourses, and underline the entangled histories of education and pandemics. Collectively the articles brought together in this issue forcibly suggest that the most fruitful and rewarding way forward to studying past pandemics lies in thinking ecologically. By asses- sing the myriad consequences of living in ” pandemic times,” of confronting exposure, transmission, transmutation, disruption, and loss, and looking to community and collective futures we believe we cannot study pandemics and their impact on education and children's lives without widening the aperture of our research. Adopting an ecological approach will help us to not only actively engage with histories of the present and contemporary collecting, but also offer the possibility of new understandings and new insights into the dynamics and consequences of past pandemics. [less ▲]

Future Pasts: Web Archives and Public History as Challenges for Historians of Education in Times of COVID-19

in Herman, Frederik; Braster, Sjaak; del Mar del Pozo Andrés, Maria (Eds.) Exhibiting the Past: Public Histories of Edcuatuon (2022)

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only sparked a renewed interest in history; it has also focused our attention on how the present can be historically preserved. Therefore, it is safe to predict that the ... [more ▼]

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only sparked a renewed interest in history; it has also focused our attention on how the present can be historically preserved. Therefore, it is safe to predict that the COVID-19 crisis and its documentation will be analyzed by future historians, and it will bring about methodological and technological changes that affect our ways of working as historians of education. This chapter will examine the following: First, it looks at some basic characteristics of web archives and how they challenge our work as historians. Second, it offers reflections on different modes of archival access and on how this may affect current concepts of the past. Third, the chapter discusses how web archives relate to public history and, next, introduces the Education & Pandemics Archive launched by the International Standing Conference for the History of Education (ISCHE). The chapter will also provide preliminary insights into how web archives may affect our work as historians of education. Web archives offer different structures, opportunities for different interactions and technological environments. They can be characterized by collaborative processes by networked data within a flattened structure, and by interconnected hardware and software environments. Web archives are user-friendly, flexible and invite us to get involved and to develop new historical dimensions. [less ▲]

International Standing Conference for the History of Edcuation

in Hernandez, José Luis; Cagnolati, Antonella; Payà, Andrés (Eds.) CONNECTING HISTORY OF EDUCATION. Redes globales de comunicación y colaboración científicas (2022)

Media Technologies for a Better World: UNESCO’s Ethical Framework for Communication Infrastructures and Uses of Media after the Second World War

in Atanasiu, Vlad; Chachereau, Nicolas; Enrico, Natale (Eds.) et al Framing Communication Infrastructures (1950-2020): Discours et imaginaires – Diskurse und Vorstellungen (2021)

The paper looks at a global, non-commercial organization that not only steered worldwide innovation in communication infrastructure but also made efforts to define ethical standards for media use and mass ... [more ▼]

The paper looks at a global, non-commercial organization that not only steered worldwide innovation in communication infrastructure but also made efforts to define ethical standards for media use and mass communication. Established after the Second World War, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) ran campaigns in the late 1940s to remove information barriers and foster the free flow of information throughout the world. Against a backdrop of emerging conflicts between East and West, North and South, UNESCO promoted the free and global spread of ideas “by word and image,” by developing its press, broadcasting and film services, advocating for the improvement of technological infrastructures (e.g. the worldwide allocation of high frequencies), helping to remove economic obstacles to global trade in news and other media (e.g. by advocating for tariff reductions on educational, scientific and cultural materials), and renegotiating telephone regulations. While critics accused UNESCO of using its media policies to promote Western values and ideas during the Cold War, UNESCO saw its role in the context of the fight for human rights, especially the right to freedom of information and the right to education. UNESCO thus mobilized mass communication policies in the service of what the organization defined as an egalitarian vision that was intended to become a major wellspring of innovation. [less ▲]

Media Matter: Images as Presenters, Mediators, and Means of Observation

Book published by De Gruyter (2021)

Challenges and Methodologies in the Visual History of Education

in Allender, Tim; Dussel, Inés; Grosvenor, Ian (Eds.) et al Appearances Matter: The Visual in Educational History (2021)

Appearances Matter: The Visual in Educational History

Book published by De Gruyter - Appearances: Studies in Visual Research (2021)

The visual turn recovers new pasts. With a focus on education, this book seeks to present a body of reflections that question a certain historicism. It renovates historiographical debate about how to ... [more ▼]

The visual turn recovers new pasts. With a focus on education, this book seeks to present a body of reflections that question a certain historicism. It renovates historiographical debate about how to conceptualize visual media while presenting new themes and methods for researchers. Images are interrogated as part of régimes of the visible, of a history of visual technologies and visual practices. Considering the socio-material quality of the image, the analysis moves away from the use of images as mere illustrations of written arguments, and seriously questions the life and death of artifacts – that is, their particular historicity. Questioning the visual and material evidence in this ways means considering how, when, and in which régime of the visible it has come to be considered as a source, and what this means for the questions contemporary researchers may ask. [less ▲]

Making History Together: Public Participation in Museums

Scientific Conference (2020, December 15)

The international online symposium brought together scholars, museum professionals and heritage practitioners to discuss how participatory history is constructed, developed, and implemented in museums ... [more ▼]

The international online symposium brought together scholars, museum professionals and heritage practitioners to discuss how participatory history is constructed, developed, and implemented in museums. 'Making History Together: Public Participation in Museums' took place on 15 December 2020 and has brought together participants and case studies from all over the world. Sessions include discussions on co-creation and co-production, community of interpretation, digital public participatory practices, empowerment, and overall impact on making history in museums. [less ▲]

Images of Industrial Life and Vocational Training: Scouting as a Liminal Space for Educating a Workers’ Elite in 1920s Luxembourg

in History of Education (2019)

This paper looks at a specific set of corporate images, namely photographs of apprentices of the Luxembourg steel conglomerate ARBED, and analyzes how young workers are depicted in these images. The paper ... [more ▼]

This paper looks at a specific set of corporate images, namely photographs of apprentices of the Luxembourg steel conglomerate ARBED, and analyzes how young workers are depicted in these images. The paper draws on a collection of 2,251 glass plate negatives (re)presenting ARBED’s industrial cosmos, including its vocational school the Institut Emile Metz. The roughly 160 images of apprentices contained in the collection put on display the apprentices’ bodies and a variety of activities in different contexts. The images’ contents testify to the institute’s programmatic hybridity and the constant (re-)mix of formal and semi-formal learning activities intended to educate natural, urban, mobile and communal men and future workers. Our focus is on Boy Scouts activities in a variety of different environments, which have functioned as a liminal space for educating a workers’ elite, mitigating the risks of industrialization and fostering social harmony and cultural belonging. [less ▲]

David Seymour’s Album on the Fight Against Illiteracy in Calabria as a Tool of Mediatization: Material Traces of Editing and Visual Storytelling

in Hendel, Giovanna; Naggar, Carole; Priem, Karin (Eds.) They Did not Stop at Eboli: The UNESCO Campaign Against Illiteracy in Reportages by David Seymour and Carlo Levi (1950) (2019)